Back to the future

When Tim Rogers goes for a walk, invariably the familiar melody of the Rolling Stones' Jumpin' Jack Flash plays in his mind.

A young Rogers, having not been exposed to punk rock, found 1960s music infinitely more appealing than the late '70s and early '80s radio pop scene.

"What struck me about the music was its tone and sound: it just cut harder and sounded attractively aggressive ... as if it were slashed up with a finely crafted knife," Rogers says.

"The guitars cut through, and the drums sounded like - you could hear and see the guy playing them."

He never got into the "hippie San Francisco stuff", says Rogers, the frontman for You Am I, but bands like the Rolling Stones, Small Faces, the Animals and the Who.

"In the '60s, all the bands came crashing in, in a big velvet mess, with switchblade sounds and drums that sounded like they were coming to attack you," he says.

And while Elvis's raw physical presence dwindled, Rogers says, as he became more commercialised, figures such as Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Pete Townshend and Keith Moon brought enduring physicality back to music.

"They had a sexuality that was menacing, which was a quality that didn't diminish as they got older," he says. "As someone who was awkward and not confident about their physical presence themselves ... I latched on to those guys.

"There was thuggery and poncery ... you can be dressed like a dandy but strike with a knife.

"The Pretty Things looked like ponces, like really ugly girls, but played like Jack the Ripper.

"If you're going to call it rock 'n' roll, it should have a bit more danger to it."